I saw an image on Twitter last week of a modified learning pyramid (I’m not going to link to it because it doesn’t need to be amplified any more).

If you weren’t aware, the learning pyramid with numbers attached to the different ways we learn has been vociferously rebutted over many years but keeps coming back to life. It’s like a zombie wearing 1000 different outfits – it becomes more colourful, stylish, fashionable and pretty with each iteration. It is however something dead that has been reanimated and, at it’s core, is rotten.

I also found the original post on LinkedIn and asked the author for the source and provenance of the data. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t converse on the topic.

I had cause to use a distracted boyfriend meme last week about shiny technology. I think we need a new version:

In the world of TikTok, nano-attention and social memes we need comparable tools to grab people’s attention. It seems pretty and dead reigns over useful but dull. Feel free to use the image when you see people using learning pyramids or cones of experience. Maybe we can meme our way into people’s attention.